Key articles

Well that makes no sense - on the anti-choice 1916 beermats

Date: Tue, 2018-05-01 12:53

There are many strange things about the anti-choice bigots trying to protect the antiquated status quo of the 8th amendment - a piece of text inserted into the constitution at the moment when the power of that old clerical Ireland was about to crumble. Strangest of all for those of us who fought against clerical control, against the Magedeline laundries, against the bans on divorce and sex between men, against corporal punishment in schools and clerical child abuse and for sex education, contraception and secular education is now finding the very people who were always on the other side of that argument trying to redefine themselves as 'the rebellion'

The latest aspect of this is 1weird 916 themed beer mats with anti-choice messaging being distributed in pubs. Apart from spoiling our pints its a messaging that makes no sense at all. From a republican perspective we don't want women in Ireland dependent on British healthcare and the whims of British politicians. We want them to be able to access the healthcare they need, including abortion, here.

Any genuine republican would be fighting to get rid of the 8th and so allowing not only women in the 26 counties to access healthcare right here but also giving women from the 6 counties another option than travel to Britain. The reactionary dinosaur parties of 6 counties are all anti-choice, the DUP virulently so - getting rid of the 8th is a blow against the 'carnival of reaction' that partition created.

True, we have little trust for Irish politicians but we have forced them to call the referendum and if we are honest they are hardly fighting to win in. Fine Gael are sitting on their handstand the deputy leader of Fianna Fail is appearing on the platform of anti-choice No meetings.
For that matter have you seen a single Fine Gael or Fianna Fail Yes poster? Almost all the Yes posters are from the parties of the radical left or the Together for Yes ones that were paid for by an online crowd fundraiser that saw over 10,000 people contribute an average of under 50 euro. Watching those donations pour in was watching another phase of the real Rebellion, the one against the 8th in practise.

We've forced the establishment currently in government to act but a lot of the establishment, particularly of rural Ireland, are defending the status quo. And of the course the bedrock of the establishment post partition, the Catholic bishops are very vocal about trying to order their flock to vote No, and facing a genuine rebellion of their own as they try to do so.

Whatever about correctly not trusting Irish politicians do we want to continue to trust Teresa May to deliver healthcare for pregnant people from Ireland. Thousands continue to travel every year to the UK for abortions, a situation that is at the whim of the conservative government, itself slashing away at their NHS. With the water charges and the calling of the referendum we have shown we can forced Irish politicians to do what we tell them through mass action, that is not true of Westminster.

There is a rebellion and that is the 30+ year rebellion against the hated 8th amendment. Those who tell you to vote no out of distrust of our gang of politicians are those who are in cahoots with the most odious of politicians here, in the UK and in the USA. Do you trust Nigel Farage, Trump or Jackie Healy-Rae. Or do you trust you own power to continue to force our politicians to do the right thing.

When we win a massive Yes vote on the 25th May its hardly like that will be a job done. After that date just as before the referendum was called we will be fighting against those in power including forcing them to bring in the best possible available. Along with many other Yes campaigners we've been fighting them for decades and together we will continue to do so in future.

Get email alerts

Follow us for our latest news & updates

This site archives most material the WSM publishes but there is often a delay of a few days before stories get copied here from our Facebook pages. To see material as we publish it follow us on our main page linked below or if you live in Ireland also via Solidarity Times.

Our twitter coverage is different to what appears on our Facebook page and includes highly curated retweets of important international stories.